Just a Rudie in the Future
by 0penfire
Summary: Yoyo has established himself in the daily grind, but still finds himself at a skate park. He gets bullied by some kids, meets an old friend, and eventually comes to terms with his life as a rudie. All in a day's work.


Yosh stood up from his meeting with his manager. It hadn't been the bad kind of meeting where you left wanting to punch something or someone. Or the kind that had you planning your resignation letter down to the most passive aggressive sign-off possible.

It was a good one. His manager had nothing to say except that he'd been doing well and that he was an asset to the company.

Not that being a waiter was difficult. The restaurant was well-established, had generally kind regulars. And he had no problem helping his coworkers if customers started to get rowdy with one of the waitresses.

They were less inclined to cause trouble for a guy who had a vicious smile which said exactly what he thought about 'the customer's always right.' Said customers always took one look at the bullet marks on his forearms and blanched. He would trade tables with his coworkers, and deliver the meals with a sharp grin and eyes which warned against causing more trouble.

He'd never see the same jerk twice.

It seemed his manager had noticed the interventions, and wanted to thank him. She suggested a coffee shop he'd never been to before in a less familiar part of the city. But he had heard nothing but good things about it, and was more than happy to get a free lunch.

After the meal, they parted ways with smiles and "see you soons." Yosh would be back at work the next day. And the day after. And on. And on. And-

Yosh closed his eyes and sighed into the sky.

He didn't regret where he was currently. He worked hard, and he loved his coworkers. The hours were very reasonable and left him with plenty of time to read or paint, or do whatever he wanted, really. But it was hard to remind himself of that when he still remembered how it felt to soar through the streets of Tokyo-to with his friends.

It took him a moment to realize that the familiar click-clack sound wasn't coming from his nostalgia, but from down the street.

He didn't choose to follow the sound. But his feet began taking him to it, regardless.

What he found was a skate park. Not terribly large, but it had ramps, pipes, and rails. Yosh's body hummed with a feeling he hadn't had in years.

Or rather, one he'd been ignoring.

As he watched several kids skate around, images of too-large sunglasses, bubblegum, and paternal smiles flashed in his mind. Yosh was left breathless.

A kid no more than eight with a helmet and pads on his joints made little jumps over lines drawn in chalk. The others were skating around the park with whoops and cheers. Grinding on rails, and racing from one side of the pit to the other at high speeds.

He stood there speechless.

"What are you looking at old man?" A girl shouted at him, causing some of the group to stop turn as well. He didn't think that kids could make such venomous looks until that moment.

Startled, Yosh called back. "I'm looking at you." Her look changed from angry furious. Damn his tongue being faster than his brain! "On-on the rail," he backtracks. Your balance was all wrong. You should be low and centered. Even weight on both feet."

The rest of the kids had stopped skating around and were eyeing him with suspicion.

"You skate?" One eventually asked.

Skating seemed like such a simple term for something so hard to put into words. From the Skyscraper District to the Sewers, he'd seen all that Tokyo-to had to offer. The good and the bad.

Until the life he knew slowly eroded away. Like a sand castle taken piece by piece with every wave that reached the shore.

He use to fly.

He used to soar.

And now he waited tables.

Yosh sighs. "I used to. I'm probably nowhere near as good as I used to be, but I still remember the basics."

"What, did you use blades to get to work?" One of the older kids sneered, glaring at his messenger bag and glasses. _What a dork_ his tone said. He must've been around sixteen. The same age Yosh was when he joined the GG's.

"No, I didn't have a job at the time," Yosh said with his jaw thrust out. What had that one comedian said? That teenagers knew what you were sensitive about and would be ruthless in tearing you apart?

He felt a little like that.

"Show us what you've got, then."

"What I've got is big old adult feet. I doubt you'll have skates my size." One of the kids started to make chicken noises.

Yosh glared at him.

The girl piped up, "My dad has some skates back at home. I'll go grab them."

Yosh had a vivid vision of her dad beating him up for hanging around his kid and her friends like a creep and panicked. "No need! Sorry for intruding. I'll just leave now –"

She turned on him, making him wonder where he went wrong in life that lead him to being threatened by teenagers.

"You're going to show me how to skate better."

"Of course!" Yosh yelped. And she skated off. He adjusted his glasses and turned back to the group.

"You guys can go back to skating, I guess? Let me know if you want any tips."

So they did. And Yosh watched.

He did think about leaving while they were distracted, but a part of him genuinely wanted to help the kids. Every now and then he walked over to someone who faltered and gave some pointers. How to stick their landings, and make their falls less painful.

It was cathartic to lean into the memories that had been plaguing him lately with nostalgia. Ignoring them had only made them stronger, but now, he was able to use them.

"We're back!" a voice shouted to the group who all turned, Yosh included. But instead of returning the call like the others did, he feels his breath catch as he sees what she's carrying.

The skates that she holds are black with blue accents and green wheels. Skates that he used to see propped up on a coffee table. Or glinting in the sunlight as their owner flitted from hydro poles to billboards.

Wide-eyed, Yosh can only stare at the man with the girl. The not-a-stranger regards him with hard eyes.

"And who are you, bothering these kids? My girl came home asking to borrow my old skates. She said that some man at the skate park needed them."

Yosh couldn't help but notice how those serious eyes matched the ones in his memories. Though in his memories, the looks were always from frustration rather than the genuine anger he sees now.

"Beat?" The man's eyebrows make a drastic change in altitude. His eyes widen and Yosh undergoes his visual scan with bated breath.

"Yoyo?"

Yosh feels a laugh bubbling in his chest. It ends up as more of a cackle as he and Beat run at each other. They collide into each other's arms.

"You're still so short! I thought you at least had a little growing left to do!"

"You're a damn bean pole! It's not fair that your metabolism is still so good!"

"And your hair!" Bean noogies him viciously. "I almost thought one of your parents was an actual lime!" Yoyo flails, helpless. Try as he might, he can't escape the headlock he's in. He settles for making noises of distress as his glasses get knocked from his face.

"Dad, who is he?" The girl held the skates limply at her sides.

Beat stops his attack on his friend's hair and looks at him with a large and breathless smile. "Yosh. His name's Yosh."

_Yosh remembered when he told Beat his name. After several drinks in the Garage, Beat asked him where the nickname came from. _

_"If I got you a yoyo, would you be able to show me some cool tricks?"_

_Yoyo snorted. "Nah, this lump is the only dog I can walk," he motioned to Potts who was sleeping in his lap. He took another sip of beer. "It comes from my name. Yosh."_

_"Jesse."_

_"No, Yosh." Yoyo glared at his friend. He couldn't be that drunk. They were still one for one with the beers and there was at least half of the 24 left. _

_Beat laughed. "My name's Jesse."_

_"Oh. Cool." _

_And they went back to watching the movie. Never talking about it again._

"Aww, you remember," Yosh cooed as he retrieved his glasses from the ground.

"So you know each other? Can he really skate?"

Beat shrugged. "He used to. Not sure if he still can. It looks like he's gone domestic."

"Says the person with a kid," Yosh spat out. Beat laughed.

"Anne's my step-kid, technically. But I've been with my girlfriend long enough that it hardly matters. I've basically raised her."

Yosh hummed, thoughtful. He never thought that Beat would choose to settle down with a family. The bachelor life had suited him all those years ago.

But people changed.

"I should still be able to do some tricks. If you don't mind me using your skates, that is."

Beat motioned for his girl to hand the skates over, which she does.

"Knock yourself out. Or don't. You seem to have rounded out a little. I might not be able to carry you to help." Yosh took a playful swing at him. Beat dodged it with a laugh.

"That's why they invented ambulances, dumb-ass." He grabbed the skates from Anne with a smile.

Yosh endured Beat's stifled laughs as he stretched thoroughly. No sense pulling any muscles trying to prove his worth to some teenagers he'll never see again.

Why was this is life?

Thankfully, Beat and Yoyo shared the same shoe size. But as it was, he still had to get used to the unfamiliar design of the skates. Not to mention his muscles which protested at the long forgotten movements.

But soon they remembered.

His legs didn't hesitate anymore when he told them to move. The different skate structure was no longer an issue. And he got lost in the motions.

He found himself heading towards the half-pipe and flipped into a hand stand at the top. His balance was shaky, but he managed to not fall. He heard some applause and gasps from his audience.

Yosh got his feet back under himself and slid down the pipe, eyes on the rail that went up and around the top of the pit. He trusted the skates' magnets to help him defy gravity as he shifted into different tricks. Near the end of the rail he turned backwards, and flipped into the air.

He felt weightless.

Free.

He completed another loop of the rail around the park before jumping into the pit with a somersault. He lands near the group of kids and Beat. His ankles protested at the landing, but he was intimately familiar with injuries, and he knew that he was fine. But he also knew his limits.

He circled the group and then stopped in a spray of sparks. The kids rushed at him.

"How did you-"

"-awesome! Could you show-"

"Wow."

Yosh laughed at the unbridled joy each kid showed. By all accounts, it hadn't been his best. He'd seen and shown much better skills in Tech competitions. As it was, he was mostly glad that he hadn't eaten asphalt.

"Guess that wasn't so bad," Beat said, a smile in his eyes, even if his mouth was only stretched into a smirk.

"Come on, I doubt you could do much better."

"Which is why I've got Anne to be my prodigy." Beat grasped Anne's shoulders and brought her forward with a playful shake.

"Dad, you never even come to the skate park anymore."

"Because I'm old. Yosh is like a spring-chicken compared to me. I've practically got one foot in the grave." He dropped his weight onto her shoulders and she fell to her knees with a squeak of protest.

"You're only two years older than me." Yosh crossed his arms.

"Practically a dinosaur," Beat continued, his voice muffled by the ground. Anne protested loudly from under him.

"Hey," the older teen who made fun of his satchel shuffled forward. "Could you show us how you did the hand plant on the pipe? That was pretty cool."

Yosh glanced at Beat who gave him a hand gesture to continue on as he rolls off of Anne. She gets up and stomps on his stomach. Yosh had only a moment to be reminded of Gum before he was dragged off to the half-pipe.

"Alright, I can probably do it a few more times without crashing, so you'd better watch closely." The kids gathered at the pipe and watched as Yosh made the approach and grabbed the edge of the pipe and held his legs up in position, slightly more confident than he'd managed his first time. He explained the technique and broke down the movement.

Beat wandered over and threw in his own advice on how to keep balanced. He made them all hold the position at the top of the pipe so that they could get a feel for it. Yosh kicked himself for not thinking about that too, but the kids didn't mind the amateur lecturing at all.

With all the reckless confidence which teenagers possess, the sixteen-year old said that he thought he had it.

So he tried.

And failed.

And tried again.

He improved, watching Yosh again and again, figuring out where he went wrong.

Eventually, he managed to grasp the edge of the pipe and hold the pose. Everyone gasped in surprise.

And then he fell backwards onto the edge of the pipe. And started laughing.

"I did it! I did it!" Yoyo skated up to the edge and helped him to his feet with a pat on the back and a huge smile.

"Nice work! We'll make a rudie of you, yet!" The kid gave him a funny look.

"What's a rudie?" Anne asked.

Yosh paused, his smile faltering.

After the Rokkaku shake down, the streets of Tokyo-to went back to normal, but he'd never been sure how the regular folks of Tokyo experienced the event. If he brought 2024 up to anyone, all he'd get was funny looks. Or grumbles about criminal activity, and how glad they were that the police weren't firing guns recklessly in the streets anymore.

The public may have noticed the absence of Rokkaku as a political figure. But they definitely didn't realize the change was caused by some colourful and rebellious youths with nothing but rollerblades, spray paint, and more attitude than common sense.

What _was_ a rudie? Especially to some kids who were too young to remember what the world was like before some skating gangs decided to change the world.

"It's-" He looked at Beat. He looked to the sky.

"It's someone who is free."

Maybe that was an odd answer to the question, but the group seemed to accept it. Beat smiled at him, and they kept skating.

-.-.-

Yosh left the skate park with a smile and Beat's number – listed as Jesse in his phone. He should probably start calling him by his civilian name. Because that's what they were now. They were just regular people, living regular lives.

But even if Yosh had a civilian job, he often got sharp reminders of his time as on the streets.

He still had to reign in his fight or flight instincts when sirens went off near him.

And he could not stand small spaces. He began to panic when someone touched him unexpectedly from behind. He had flashbacks of being carried away by police or sitting in a locked cage, wondering if anyone was even looking for him.

Being part of the GG's wasn't all good, but the team had been his family in a time when he'd never felt more lost.

_"It's someone who is free."_

-.-.-

That night, Yoyo took his instant ramen to the rooftop of his apartment to watch the sunset.

He had a smile on his face as he watched the dying sun, because he knew now.

He'd never stopped being a rudie. It was in the choices he made every day. To stick up for what he knew was right. To keep painting. He had a job now, but his soul still drew strength from the streets.

And while its form was no longer youths in skates vandalizing buildings, he felt like there was a lot more rudies in Tokyo-to than there had been, even during the revolution.

The radio still played static and worn-out tunes.

The t.v. was still nothing more than a square plastic box.

But the dreams of the city have been carried on through the streets. People may not know everything that happened in 2024, but in their own weird ways, they accepted their changed world.

Children were able to play on the streets, pushing themselves to new limits, and expressions of creativity. The messages left on the walls in graffiti may be in a code that they will never crack, but Yosh is sure of one thing:

People have remembered.

-.-.-

_AN: I was slapped by nostalgia the other day when I walked by a skate park where a bunch of kids were playing on their skateboards and bikes. And then this story wouldn't leave my head. It got sappy, I put in a John Mulaney reference, but we got here in the end. _

_Also, I definitely got the name Yosh from another fanfic called The Past by Emrood. I know that the other names used are western when they shouldn't be, but I have no idea how naming conventions work in Japan, and I'm not going to pretend that I do._

_Lastly, this is my prayer to Sega to give us the new Jet Set Radio that we deserve at Gamescom 2019. I'm counting on y'all TO NOT DISAPPOINT ME AGAIN YA DAMN SCRUBS._

_Edit: FUCK_

_Peace, y'all. Stay funky._


End file.
